


Leap Of Faith

by HoneyBee95



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Family, Avengers Feels, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Family, Family Loss, Friendship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loss of Faith, Male-Female Friendship, Minor Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Minor Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov, Natasha Romanov Feels, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Soul Stone (Marvel), Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Steve Rogers Feels, Team as Family, Vormir, can also be Romanogers, mainly friendship between these two but can be taken as something more, romanogers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-05-07
Packaged: 2020-02-28 04:31:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18749074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoneyBee95/pseuds/HoneyBee95
Summary: Steve arrives at Vormir to return the Soul Stone, and to retrieve a lost friend.





	Leap Of Faith

**Author's Note:**

> Sup Guys and Dolls! I hope you are all well! Here is a short piece I have written to explore what went down when Steve returned the soul stone, as it is something I am curious to uncover. If you have not seen Avengers: Endgame then this piece contains some mild spoilers. Moreover, something that bothered me in the movie was the lack of expansion of the Soul Stone, nor its abilities in Endgame. Although Minor, there is some hint of the stones abilities in the text.  
> Please critique as always, according to these guidelines:
> 
> Critique Guideline:  
> 1\. Summarize - tell me what happened in your own words  
> 2\. Analyze - how was the chapter put together, interactions between characters, where you think this is going to go  
> 3\. Critique - what did and did not work  
> 4\. Suggestions - what would you like to see, improvements
> 
> Happy Reading dear readers of mine :)

‘Welcome Steve, son of Sarah’

The hooded figure floated in the cold air. The hike to the top of Vormir had been perhaps the second most strenuous thing Steve had done of recent, but he was determined. No sooner had he stopped to keel over and catch his breath, had the figure appeared. Materialising from the darkness of the cave. Moulding itself from nothing, to something. Steve stared at the figure, panting; ‘I assume you’re the hooded guy Clint told us about?’ 

‘That, amongst other things’, snow and ash billowing around its cloak. ‘I have gone by another name before, one you are all too familiar with, Captain’.  
Red pooled from the hood, materialising into a face. The face of Johann Schmidt. Steve scowled ‘You? I thought you died after using the tesseract?’ 

Red Skull chuckled, his cold laugh just as chilling as the air. ‘As did I Captain Rogers. But the tesseract merely transported me. Cast me out of its site onto another stone. One, it felt was worthy of me’ he shook his head. ‘Since then, I have been the sole guardian of this place. Guiding those who wish to attain it, to the Soul Stone.’ 

Red Skull looked up, his red eyes meeting Steve’s blue. ‘I can only assume that is why you are here?’  
‘Nice try, Schmidt. But I know you don’t have it’. A sardonic smile spread across the Nazi’s face, ‘no Captain, I do not. But you do, I can see that much from you’ the wraith said, nodding towards Steve’s closed fist, gold plumes peeking through his fingers. ‘So tell me Captain, why are you here?’  
‘To return the stone. And to retrieve a friend’  
‘I see’ he said. ‘You wish to restore the stone, and revive Natasha Romanoff. Your request is both one and the same.’ Schmidt said, turning. Steve followed. 

‘in order to take back that which you lost, and return what you gained, you must do one thing’ Red Skull stopped at the ledge of the cliff. The grey sky howled and rattled all around them. ’Leap from the heights of Vormir to the depths below. Only then will you be able to retrieve your friend.’  
Steve looked down. The grey drop below stretched farther than he could imagine, its height blurring the numbers already formed in his head on how far he had climbed and making him feel dizzy.  
‘is this some kind of trick?’  
‘The stone merely requires a soul to retrieve it. It does not need another to return it. Once it has been returned, it has no use for the life it has taken. The stone is selfish, yes. But it is also fair.’

Steve glanced at his palm. The soul stone glittered in his hand. Its magnificent yellow rays lighting up the grey. This could be a trick. 

Schmidt had every reason to lie in order to get Steve to end his own life, as retribution for his own banishment.  
But why lie now?  
Thanos and Clint had gone with Natasha and Gamora respectively, and neither had returned. Only the stone had accompanied them back.

Steve looked up. Down the sheer drop of grey, and into the abyss below. Natasha had stood here once before. Deliberating with Clint their next course of action. There was no way around it, and they both had a decision to make for the greater good. 

And she had taken the leap.  
She had faith that they would win. That they would all do the right thing to save all they had lost, even if their lives were on the line.  
This was a leap of faith.  
Hope was the thing with wings, and it allowed them, The Avengers, to fly. Their success stemmed from Natasha’s faith, and it was a sacrifice that had saved countless lives. 

‘I would like to see you die a slow and miserable death, Captain’ Schmidt said, watching as Steve took a few steps back. ‘However, the oneness of retrieving Natasha’s soul is on you. Your own actions will shape the outcome. Either way, I will look on gladly, as you tempt fate.’  
Thunder crackled overhead, the air whipping all around them.  
Steve looked down at the soul stone. It winked back. ‘Only if I die'  
‘Yes’ said Schmidt, smiling finally. ‘If you die.’

Steve leapt into a sprint.  
Snow and ice clouding his vision, sweat clinging to his clothes.  
Natasha had gone into the darkness alone. Unsure and unknowing of the battle to come.  
Blood pounding in his ears.  
She had merely hoped they would win, her sacrifice a testimony of her belief.  
The wind whistling through Steve’s hair.  
Natasha had loved them all, and had laid her life down gladly for them.  
The grey ledge drew closer, and through his dark shroud, Red Skull’s smile grow longer.  
He thought of Natasha. How she smiled and how she’d promised to be back. How she promised to see them in a minute.  
Heart pounding, Steve crossed the grey threshold. Where matter and foundation ceased, and only the air served as his support. The sky opened, and black bolts erupted across the sky, roaring in thunderous applause as the universe watched as Captain America took his own life.

Electric pain swept through Steve’s nerves, his skull and then the rest of his body connecting with the ground. He cried out, eyes flying open. He did not remember when he had shut them. A yellow sky looked back at him. He lay still for a moment, pain ringing and noting for the first time that he may have soiled his trousers.  
‘Steve?’  
He sat up at the sound of his name. A golden lake stretched into the horizon, devoid of all life and people. Only Natasha stood there. Her red hair and expression a shocking contrast to the palettes of gold and serene silence.

‘Natasha’ he stood at once, walking quickly towards her, tears freely flowing. ‘Nat is it really – ‘  
Her fist ricocheted against his cheek. Steve staggered back, surprised but not put off. He grabbed her wrists, hard and slender muscle pressed beneath his fingertips.  
She was shouting at him. Cursing him. Demanding to know why he was here and where everyone else was. He could only look at her. The way her eyes sparkled as hot tears rolled off her cheeks, and the contortion of her face as she shouted every profanity in the book at him.  
It was her. It was really her. He hugged her. Feeling the warmth of her body and the wetness of her cheeks pressed against him.

She stilled, hiccupping and wrapping her arms around the Super-Soldier in return. ‘Damn you, Steve. Why are you here? What happened?’. He sighed, happy. ‘We won, Nat. We won.’ He stood straight, looking down at the assassin. ‘After we defeated Thanos, I had to put all the other stones back so it wouldn’t affect the past. It’s over now.’  
‘Then why are you here?’  
‘I couldn’t leave you. You saved us Nat, and you’re our family. You deserve to come home’ she stood back, confused. ‘Then where are we?’ she asked, looking around. ‘Steve, I hope you’re not – ‘  
‘Nat, this is the soul stone. When you sacrificed yourself, you where trapped inside of it. Red Skull – the floating guy you met – said the stone only needed a soul to retrieve it. Now that its been returned, it has no need for a soul. Either of our souls. We’re free to go’

Natasha’s head bowed. From the water, Steve could not see her face reflected in its golden surface.  
‘What if I don’t want to go home?’ she whispered.  
‘What was that, Nat?’ Steve asked, genuinely not hearing what she had said.  
‘I said,’ she looked him in the eye, fresh tears starting anew ‘I don’t want to go home, Steve.’  
Steve blinked, ‘But...why?’ Natasha tore her eyes away from his, looking at anything but him.  
‘Natasha, what do you mean?’  
‘I’ve said it before Steve,’ she said, looking back at him firmly, ‘I have red in my ledger. And this  
clears it out.’  
Steve stared at her. ‘Nat, you’ve been cleared of your wrong doings a long time ago. You deserve to come home’  
‘No I don’t’  
‘yes you do’  
‘No. I. Don’t’ she said hotly. ‘Listen Steve, there is nothing you can do or say to me that will convince me to leave. I can’t go back there’  
Steve stared at her. She stared back. A beat of serene silence passing between them, as the golden waters stilled. Her brow was furrowed, arched slender in a way that meant only business. Her lips pulled tight on her face. And her eyes, ever-still, swam with something he had only seen once on her face before. Just after Thor had beheaded Thanos: Fear. 

‘There’s more to this, isn’t there?’  
Natasha shook her head, looking down. ‘I can’t go back Steve,’ she said finally, looking back at him. ‘After everything we’ve been through, after all that we’d lost, I-I can’t. I just can’t do it again.’  
He looked her over, finally understanding. ‘But Natasha, it’s even more reason for you to come home. For you to return to the land of the living. To fight for and protect what you gained: a family.’  
Natasha laughed. Short and hysterical.  
‘And who’s to say it won’t happen again? Who’s to say that someone bigger, badder and worse than Thanos is on the way? No Steve. I can’t do that again. I can’t bear to witness seeing any of you dying.’  
‘But, Nata – ‘  
‘Answer me, honestly’ she said, fire rising. ‘Did all of us survive that battle? All of us?’  
‘Natash – ‘  
‘Answer the question Steve!’  
He took a step back, bewildered. The fire in her eyes boring into his soul. Searching for the truth.  
‘No’ he said finally. ‘Not all of us.’ She nodded; point made.  
‘You know I can’t lie – ’  
‘Yeah, well lucky for some, I already know that’  
‘Natasha, please – ‘  
‘I’m sorry Steve,’ her eyes swirling with emotion, ‘but this is the only real peace I’ve known. This is the closest form of redemption I can ever get. I want this. That way I can make up for what I’ve done, that way I won’t ever risk losing whatever family I have left.’

He looked her over. Noting the final-ness in her eyes and the rigidness of her frame. She wanted this.  
‘You’re a thorn in my side. You know that, right?’ she smiled, ‘Clint said something similar’ ‘well, he’s right,’ they both laughed. Low, light and bittersweet. Both noting for the first time that they had held hands, both hands, all this time, as they climbed down from their high.  
‘its not going to be the same without you’  
‘it was never going to be’  
They pressed foreheads together. Feeling for the last time, one another’s presence.  
‘Steve?’  
‘Yes Nat?’ he said stepping back. ‘Do me a favour? Get a life’

White light swallowed him whole. When he came too, a grey drop and bitter cold greeted him. His hands outstretched, holding what was once there. Steve blinked.  
‘it would seem you survived, Captain’ Red Skull said from behind, as Steve shook his head, dazed. He looked down at his closed fist. The stone was gone. ‘But it would also seem, that you did not succeed in bringing your friend back’ Steve glared at the chuckling wraith, walking away from it.

All the stones had been returned. All that was left now was to go home. Steve punched in the date for his time, and…his hand hovered. What was it that Natasha and Tony had kept telling him: get a life.  
He looked down at his clenched fist, the date flashing back at him, Natasha’s words ringing like a bell in his head. She had found her happiness. As had Tony, Clint and everyone else. They had taken a leap, they did not know when they would come down. And yet they were all better because of it. Steve changed the date, wondering absently if this was what Natasha had meant. He had one chance before, and he missed it. Now he had another. The chance to experience what he had lost. He had a Time Machine for christ's sake!  
His hand hovered over his wrist, new date set. This decision could mess up their timeline even more. But he didn't know that unless he tried it. 'Get a life' Natasha's words rang, her voice melancholic yet filled with so much hope. Steve activated the device, disappearing from the planet, and into the quantum realm. He did not know what would happen, nor how it would affect the timeline, but he did not care. He had only now. And this was his leap of faith.

**Author's Note:**

> Just in case you were wondering, the reason Thanos is not in the Soul Stone, is because Tony literally snapped him out of existence, I.E he literally does not and cannot exist again.
> 
> I look forward to all your reviews <3


End file.
